WELCOME 2012!

Power's out!

 After 3 days of winter camping in a cabin with no running water,  Nordic skiing and sweating up a storm hauling all of our gear to and fro, the 4 of us were fairly RIPE by the time we headed out for home.  When we hit town we found the traffic lights were all out and hoped that an outage wasn't the case up at our house!  We prayed on the 7 mile trip up the mountain that all we would have to deal with once home was the shoving and tripping over each other to get to the shower first!  No such luck. According to a text from a neighbor, the power had gone off around noon...luckily, the house was still warm compared to the single digits outside.  Miles and Dylan eventually headed back into town to shower at the gym.  Willa and I stuck it out at home putting away camping gear, manning the wood stove to keep the house warm, and playing cards by candle light.  We enjoyed the true solace in a house quiet with NO electricity running through it.  Miles and I figured that if the power wasn't on by the time we went to bed we would have to box up all the stuff from the cooler and put it outside!  It was quite the relief when the power came back on around 6-ish.   We all headed out for the annual neighborhood New Years block party.  The usual extreme sledding, socializing and firework watching fun.  I had my glorious shower afterward to warm up and settle into the sleep I was desperately needing!

The tiki lit sledding route down the road and into our neighbor's driveway

MEME FOR THE NEW YEAR:

1.    What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?

Visited St. Louis.  It’s a ghost town.  Meh.  Miles and I had fun being together, of course, visiting the zoo, going to a Rams game, dinking around town, going up in the Arch, touching the Mississippi, going for runs, eating some fabulous meals, and getting gussied up for NYL events.

2.  Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don’t set out to make the New year’s Resolution. But this time of year does lend itself to change. After the ruckus of the holiday season, when things calm down and return to normal, why not re-do the routine with some aspirations? Getting some CEUs under my belt and putting more “spirit” into my massage practice, trying to streamline my daily and household routine(more efficiency, organization, etc.), surpassing my current comfort threshold regarding exercise and training….doing at least ONE half marathon!

3.  Did anyone close to you give birth?
My step-nephew had a baby girl!

4.  Did anyone close to you die?
Yes.  My dad, my uncle, and a young family friend.  It was a tough spring/summer for me…..

5.  How many people will you romantically kiss in 2012?
Just my hunny!

6.  What countries did you visit?

Whitley Strieber’s Unknown Country?  Aliens and UFOs and news of the Weird and whatnot.

7.  What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?A.Finished.New.Addition.Thankyou.

8.  If for one year (2012) you could choose to be any age, what age would you be?

50-60-ish?  To get perspective on what I really should be appreciating right NOW as far as my physical abilities and self image.  They’re not bad, mind you, but not as positive as they should be.  When I think of the negative crap I thought about myself 10 or 15 years ago, I just want to go back and kick my own own ass and say,"In 10 or 15 years you'll WISH you we're your younger self!!!" Next year I’ll go back to 25!

9.  Will you be looking for a new relationship?

I would love to find a group of women to run with!
I love to run solo as well as with Miles, but I think it would also be fun to have some female running camaraderie and energy! 

10.  Where did most of your money go?

Our new addition….which is getting’ fuckin’ OLD!!!

11.  What was the best thing you bought?

I don’t know how popular they are in the Lower 48, but my SkhooP insulated snow skirt has been a GODSEND!  It’s like wearing a thin sleeping bag around your legs!  http://www.skhoop.us/ I bought the long one and it makes any outside winter activity perfectly comfortable!  I don’t use it for running or skiing since I can generate plenty of heat that way, but for walking downtown, standing around outside, picking up Willa from school, or staying warm after a workout this skirt is the THANG to HAVE!

12.  How many times will you break and/or lose your cell phone in 2012?
Hasn’t ever happened in all the years I’ve had a cell.

13.  Whose behavior merited celebration?

A few…in this messed up world,,,,but I’m feeling lazy, so there.

14.  Whose behavior disgusted you?

All riding in the GOP Clown Car!

15.  Any trips planned?

Welp…it’s our 10 year anniversary this June!  And we had batted around the idea of celebrating in Ireland/Scotland…but in all reality, we HAVE to finish this room before committing to anything else.  Totally bums me out, but I know once the room is done we’ll make this trip happen!  Otherwise, it’s the usual but highly anticipated Russian River fishing trip, as well as our trip to New Jersey-or perhaps we can talk my Mom and step dad into meeting us in some other location, like Hawaii?  I also hope we can fit in some exploratory road trips in AK.

16.  What about yourself will you be changing?
Letting go, and….just continuing to evolve.

17.  Will you be nicer to the people you care about?
Nope.  Gonna go for REALLY MEAN this year!  HELLA nasty! Yeah.

18.  Will you be nice to people you don’t know?

Something disturbing I noticed over the summer while hiking out on our increasingly popular trail-SO many people passing by without a “Hi-gorgeous day, huh?!”  or even eye contact.  Huh?  This is a hiking trail out in god’s country, not Rush Hour, NYC!  What’s happening?!  Where is the connection?!  So, yeah.  I’ll be in your face with a hi! and direct eye contact.  I will also be trying to smile more..sometimes my face does not reflect what I have inside.

19.  Will you still be friends with the same people you are friends with now?
Of course!

20.  What do you wish you’d done more of?

Playing outside in inclement weather.  Lot's of times crap weather has been an excuse not to go outside.  I need to remember there is a different beauty in the wind...the rain...the fog...and I want  my family to experience this, too.

21.  What do you wish you’d done less of?

Alpha stating on this computer.  But that’s a whole nuther post…

22.  Will you be looking for a new job?
Yes. Yes I will, methinks.  I need steadier work and a boss that actually respects and promotes their therapists.  I'd also like to use a wider range of modalities.

23.  Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Hate is such a strong word…  I try to realize that when I feel “hate” it’s really more of a lack of something….respect, empathy, etc. because of that person’s actions.

24.  What was the best book you read?
BORN TO RUN.  It’s in my top 5 best EVER.

25.  What was your favorite film of this year?

We’re still working through 2011’s films via Netflix…..but methinks Hobo With a Shotgun is residing in our mailbox down the road as I write this!  And you KNOW that flick is gonna RAWK cuz Rutger Hauer’s in it!!!!!

26.  What happened in 2011 that you didn’t think would ever happen?

I sold some paintings at art shows and cafes and a gallery in Anchorage wants to show me exclusively!!!!!

27.  How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2012?
Kynd BohoArtchicNordyrecREIation?

28.  What new thing would you mix with chocolate in 2012?
BEER!!!!  I can’t wait for my chocolate bock to be DONE!!!!  I’ll be bottling it next weekend!

29.  Major lifestyle changes?
More like “tweaking” what’s already there.  We’ve cleaned up our diet more by adding some great healthy meals to our list, I’ve gotten more serious about training for an actual half marathon-or maybe even a full, I’ve remained dedicated to living STRONG.

30.  What political issue stirred you the most?
I’ve been so shaken and stirred the past year I can barley manage to follow the news anymore…stochastic terrorism…the relentless nay saying of the stalwarts in the House/Congress…corporations are PEOPLE?!?!....the insidious turning of our great country into an oligarchy…my disillusion with our President-although I still support…the potential of the Occupy movement/the snafu,fubar,chaos of the Occupy Movement….Fuckin’ A.  Too much.

31.  Who did you miss?

Mel

  32.  What was your biggest achievement of the year? 

Getting my name known as an artist in town!

33.  What was your biggest failure? 

I don’t think I fucked up in any BIG way…but I do get on myself daily but all the minor fuck ups.  I need to show myself a little more compassion…

34.  Did you suffer illness or injury? 

Surprisingly, no real illness despite other members of my family getting sick.  There where a few times that I was sure I felt something coming on, but by the time I woke up the next, day I was fine.  This is a rare thing!  Pretty cool!  Hopefully that says something about my all around health.  Injury….a little funk going on in both shoulders when I do something I haven’t in awhile like cross country skiing.  Working on keeping those shoulder girdles loose and strong.

35.  Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder? The same I guess…and that’s pretty happy!

b) thinner or fatter? 
A pound or 3 weight gain after loosing 25 last year..but I’ve also put on more muscle

c) richer or poorer?  In what respect Charlie?  Richer in life experience for sure.  Financially…the same.

36.  What kept you sane?
SWEAT.  Getting outside…running...hiking…skiing

 37.  Do you expect 2012 to be a good year for you?

I will  make it the best it can be!

 

Scenes from Christmas Day

How the day went:  Coffee, of course!....open stockings....more coffee accompanied by Mile's homemade cinnamon rolls....exchange gifts/open Santa prezzies....groove on our new stuff....answer phone calls from relatives....clean up...groove on our new stuff....eat a "real" breaky....go for a snowy run....shower....head out to the T's house for football, fun and dinner...and what a beautiful drive it was!  9 more inches of new snow blanketing everything...a true white Christmas!  .....back home...watch a movie.....goodnight!

Christmas morning!  Crack-o-Dawn!

I am absolutely in LOVE with our tree.  Perfect in so many ways....in that it came from our own yard and in how amazing it looks!

It's like an I Spy book!!!  Who can spy the whiskey?!?!

Willa worked so hard on the little lamb she knit for Dylan!  Every morning on the dark car ride to work she was back there knitting away.  Lamb is napping on the neck warmer I knit for Willa.  Made one for Dylan, too, but it needs some more work....

Willa's wrapping "humor".

The tee Willa made for Daddy using our tutorial HERE.

Willa made this beautiful Ireland scene out of scraps of wood for me!  It goes with the Arctic themed one she made for Miles LAST Christmas.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, too!!!!

Scenes from Christmas Eve

Final touch on our best tree ever!

Willa's letter to Santa

Dylan's gift to Willa.  A t-shirt with one of our cats on it.  A great tutorial for these cute tees can be found HERE.

Bounty

King crab in da pot!

Miles's famous recipe book

Garlic:  a food group

Hangin' with my gnomie in the Land of Pies

Add caption

Happy and hungry!

So quiet and soft outside

Listening to Daddy read The Night Before Christmas....

Happy Solstice to all!

The Shortest Day
by Susan Cooper

So the shortest day came, and the year died,
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive,
And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us – Listen!!
All the long echoes sing the same delight,
This shortest day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, fest, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!!

Holiday happenings

Oooooh,
         the weather outside is
                  TOTALLY FUCKED UP!!!!

From our front door two weekends ago.  Winds, rain, bye bye, Snow.   Wish I had tried to capture the wind with my camera.  Trees bending horizontal.  Weeeeeeeeeeee.

Last weekend as I drove down the mountain.  Snowing at the top, raining at the bottom.

Wind blasted snow turning the house white.

The last three weekends have seen the most insane winds we've experienced up here. 100+MPH.    Just, NASTY! Rain and grey and yuckily warm out.....ECK! and, MEH!!!! The 12+ new inches of snow we got LAST weekend...ruined. 2 Lantern Walks cancelled, my December First Friday art show opener cancelled, a second show cut short, birthday dinner cancelled (and well, I won't complain about missing a day of work-didn't have to deal with the Client From Hell) all due to hazardous conditions.

Scattered about between this month's meteorologic fiascoes there have been a few respites where we've enjoyed good old winter in Alaska. Willa has been enjoying her twice a week Junior Nordic skiing class(me, too. One night I volunteer with her group and the other I just ski off into the dark by myself or with Miles when he can join us- skiing at night is so friggin' awesome! Quiet, beautiful....). Willa's school FINALLY got that Lantern Walk in, although abridged. We held it on the play yard grounds of the school right smack in downtown Anchorage instead of out in the woods of Goose Lake. And it was first thing in the morning as opposed to in the evening. And sans hot cider and cookies....

:(  But the kids still enjoyed it very much-all proud of their beautiful lanterns and full of song.

Willa's class made goose "G" lanterns

  It really goes to show you how easily pleased  kids can still be with the minimum. Speaking of, a post or three ago I mentioned my dilemma in buying our usual little Holiday tree to put on the Advent table from the Advent faeries.  I wound up doing the note and pine branch in a vase thing.  Next morning the kid was thrilled! She thought it was so pretty and even kissed it. Why bother getting the store bought tree?!?! Well....the faeries did promise it in their note.... Point is, she would have been just FINE with the branch and vase!  No great expectations there.   ...And then there is the sword. A gorgeous leather play sword that I saw on A Small Tribe's blog. A perfect Santa gift for a kid who is very into LOTR! So I ordered it on ETSY. In the meantime, Willa found a stick that appeared on the porch during on our the recent thaws. That kid is a stick MAGNET. Sticks everywhere in this house. And god forbid you try to chuck one outside.....have to do THAT when she's not lookin'. So she takes the stick and lays it on a towel by the front door and starts scraping away at the bark with a rock like a little Neanderthal. 3o minutes later she is the proud brandisher of the Worlds Most AWESOME Sword! A stick. I just spent $ on a handmade, killer(and I mean that NOT literally), leather sword resplendent with dragon embellishment and handle wrapped in pink cord. A stick will do just fine , thanks. Haven't I always said,"BEST toys EVER: Sticks, rocks, boxes and silkies"?!??! WHY don't I listen to myself?!?! Sometimes we parents still go overboard even while we think we're going minimal. Sometimes our kids will surprise us with their simple desires. Refreshing in a world of entitlement and greed. A stick and a pine branch....and the imaginations SOAR.

Off on a tangent there...back to the holidays.  We have a house guest and he's WONDERFUL.  His name is Rocket and he's a handsome polite fella. 

Dog and cat dig each other.  Took this shot from my perch on the couch.

A malamute?/sled dog?/golden lab? type.  Most low maintenance dog EVER!  And it's just so nice to have some doggie-ness around the house again.  Had to kick him out of bed twice...and he'd sit right on our laps if we let him, but he's a BIG dude and the rule is no dogs on the furniture.  So we totally succumbed to his cuteness and let him sleep on the ottoman while we watch TV.  He has the amazing ability to curl up in a wee ball.  A delicate flower he is.  We have him through Christmas while his people are in Mexico.

Tangent number 2 scratched off the list.  It's an ADD day for me.  Holidays.....tree is up and half decorated....working on handmade prezzies...watching Christmas movies.....makin' fudge....rescued a bird from our new addition today....baking cookies...wrapping, wrapping, wrapping....looking forward to king crab, skiing with and visiting friends, and skiing out to a cabin we rented for 3 days...and a WEEK OFF WORK HOME WITH MY FAM.

This just in:  High wind warning remains in effect from 3 pm this afternoon to midnight akst tonight for turnagain arm and the hillside...  100MPH winds expected

Sigh.........  We better get today's skiing and shopping in before the winds hit.  Again.